Council of State requested cancellation of e-commerce law articles; Constitutional Court rejected it

The Constitutional Court (AYM) has rejected the application filed by the Council of State, following a previous application by the CHP, for the cancellation of certain articles of this law, which aims to protect consumers and competition.

According to the report by Emre Eser from Hürriyet, the Council of State's request for cancellation regarding e-commerce was blocked by the Constitutional Court (AYM). The legislative proposal, prepared by the Ministry of Trade and introduced last year to protect domestic firms and small businesses in the e-commerce sector, was accepted by the unanimous vote of five parties in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) and became law. The law entered into force at the beginning of last year. Accordingly, electronic commerce platforms such as Trendyol will not be able to sell their own brands. Furthermore, it was legally guaranteed that platforms with a net transaction volume exceeding 10 billion TL would only use the data they obtain for "intermediary" services. Additionally, the law introduced a licensing requirement for firms with a net transaction volume exceeding 10 billion TL.

COUNCIL OF STATE'S REQUEST ALSO REJECTED

However, it emerged that after the Republican People's Party (CHP), the Council of State also applied to the AYM for the cancellation of certain articles of this law, which aims to protect consumers and competition. Accordingly, the Council of State requested the cancellation of the article stating, "Unfair commercial practices cannot be engaged in electronic commerce. Practices of an electronic commerce intermediary service provider that significantly disrupt the commercial activities of the electronic commerce service provider to which it provides intermediary services, reduce its ability to make reasonable decisions, or force it to make a certain decision, causing it to be a party to a commercial relationship it would not otherwise be a party to under normal conditions, are considered unfair."

The Council of State also requested the cancellation of the article that imposes a licensing obligation on firms with an annual net transaction volume exceeding 10 billion TL and a requirement to pay license fees on a sliding scale for annual net transaction volumes between 10 billion TL and 60 billion TL. Evaluating the Council of State's application, the AYM issued a rejection decision regarding the Council of State's application, just as it did with the CHP's application.

CHP HAD REQUESTED CANCELLATION ONE DAY BEFORE THE DEADLINE

The regulation had received the support of all parties in Parliament. The CHP, which had congratulated the then-Minister of Trade Mehmet Muş on the importance of the law, later went to the AYM with a request for cancellation one day before the application period expired upon the law's entry into force. Subsequently, it was revealed through the statements of the then-CHP Group Deputy Chairman Engin Altay that IYI Party Chair Meral Akşener had called the then-CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and acted as an intermediary in taking the law to the AYM.